African storms, astronomical tides = strange weather in ENC

Monday

Jun 26, 2017 at 2:19 PMJun 26, 2017 at 2:19 PM

Bill Hand BillHandNBSJ

You may have noticed that the weather last week was … well, weird.

Last week featured a deadly string of rip current conditions along the beaches. Early on Saturday the water was so low in the Neuse River that that you could walk on the river bottom 20 or 30 feet from the Union Point sidewalks without getting your feet wet. And then on Saturday night, as if the Almighty wasn’t sure he could refill the river with the tides, we had record rainfalls.

There were even tornado warnings, though no people – only radar – saw them.

During the Saturday deluge, numerous streets flooded and saturated trees downed power lines in Carolina Pines, along River Road in Vanceboro, and Old Brick Road in Ernul.

“We heard of several places that had isolated street flooding,” Craven County EMS Director Stanley Kite said. “Some buildings that are on slab construction had water go into them, and New Bern had some apartments flooded out by Colony Village.”

Most deadly was a stretch of rip current warnings that affected the North Carolina coast from Duck to Surf City.

According to Newport meteorologist Bel Melendez, the first “high risk” notice was given on June 16. The high risk warnings continued to be issued through Sunday, a stretch of 10 days, with Monday’s risks being lowered to “moderate.”

Four people died as a result of getting caught in rip currents in three separate incidents at Atlantic Beach and Emerald Isle.

On June 10, six days before the high risks started being issued daily, two Goldsboro teens were caught in rip currents in Emerald Isle. Elijah Hinnant, 17, died at the scene while his friend Tyreese Worsley, 16, was taken off life support 10 days later on June 19.

On Saturday, June 18, New Bern resident Scott Whitford, 56, died while trying to rescue two teens caught in rip currents at Henderson Beach, while a day later, Farmille resident Justin Eakes got caught in rip currents while also trying to rescue friends and died a day later.

Melendez said the National Weather Service sees high risks of rip currents frequently during the summer, but admitted that the recent train of days was “unusual” – as was the cause.

Usually, rip currents are a concern over a stretch of days when there is a tropical storm brewing in the Atlantic. This series, however, was caused by a weather system off the tip of Africa.

“There was actually a storm down in the Southern Hemisphere that affected South Africa,” she said. “We were at the right exposure for the strongest winds. All that swell energy was directed toward the East Coast of the United States.

“It’s very rare that a situation (like that) occurs,” she said, “but it’s not the first time.”

Saturday’s unusually low tide, meanwhile, was the result of a high astronomical tide. Meteorologist David Glenn, also headquartered in Newport, said that while astronomical high tides are higher than usual, their low tides are also lower.

And Saturday’s tide was a pinnacle of high tides. “This was referred to as a king tide, which means the highest of the high tides,” he said.

Adding to the low water was strong southwesterly winds blowing the river water toward the Outer Banks.

He said the conditions lasted Saturday and Sunday.

The effect was noticeable at Union Point, where 20 or 30 feet of the shallow river bottom was exposed and dry enough to walk on: ballast and rocks covered with barnacles and shells, general vegetation and the remains of old piers jutting out of the mud like decayed teeth.

A few people and ducks explored the exposed bottom near the park’s pavilion while at the southern end, lawn chairs were set out in what was usually a foot or so of water while their occupants fished.

That evening, the area was hit with record amounts of rainfall.

Glenn said the New Bern airport recorded 1.44 inches of rainfall – beating the previous record of 1.32. But that was just a light rain shower compared to what other areas got not far away.

Glenn said that 1½ miles west-southwest or New Bern received 4.75 inches of rain over the same period. 5.75 inches fell 7.7 miles northeast of New Bern while, a little more than a mile and a half from the airport, to the north-northeast, 6.14 inches of rain hit the ground.

The remainder of this week will be more pleasant, Glenn promised. Rain through the week will be more sporadic, while Wednesday and Thursday both promise sunny weather and cooler temperatures in the high to low 80s.

Contact Bill Hand at bill.hand@newbernsj.com, 252-635-5677, and follow him @BillHandNBSJ.

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